Better training and support of teachers, and better funding, are part of the remedy.

For years some families in Schenectady have alleged the city's school district was treating minority students differently than whites.

A U.S. Department of Education investigation provides overwhelming evidence to support this belief. Specifically, the Department's Office of Civil Rights has found discrimination in the way elementary students are identified for special education.

Often a special education referral becomes the first step in the removal of a misbehaving child from the class. In one example after another, the federal probe found elementary school teachers in racially diverse classrooms disproportionately identified black and Latino students for special education, while white students who had the same or sometimes more severe learning or behavioral problems were not subject to these referrals.

Students removed from class for behavior problems are prone to falling behind academically. Some never catch up. So the practice only kicks classroom behavior issues down the road, often to resurface in middle school.

One has to ask if this is in part responsible for the chronic discipline problems at the district's Mont Pleasant Middle School, where police had to intervene recently because unruly behavior in school was spilling into the streets at dismissal.

What's clear is the district does not have effective ways to deal with the serious and widespread discipline issues involving elementary school students. It's easy to fault the many teachers cited in the federal report, but that blame can only go so far. To succeed in such a diverse urban district, teachers must have proper training and options enabling them to deal with problem children. Absent significant top-down support, teachers are left to fend for themselves.

We're heartened that even before the federal officials completed their investigation, Superintendent Laurence T. Spring pledged full cooperation. The district has agreed to provide extensive staff training and to develop a team-based approach to intervening in cases of disruptive elementary school children. That plan also must include significant involvement of the parents of the unruly elementary school students.

But the district itself needs more help. In his 16 months as head of the urban school district, where 74 percent of the 10,000 students come from families poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, Mr. Spring has compiled data he says shows the district is the victim of discrimination — that is, involving state aid. He is preparing a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice that argues the governor and state Legislature have shortchanged Schenectady and other city districts with high minority populations.

Whether or not that effort brings some additional funding, the district must come up with an equitable and more successful way to bring order back to Schenectady's classrooms. Success will mean a better community for all Schenectadians, especially the children in the schools.